Branding Oneself

1. My toes are too long…
2. I inherited brown spots on my eyes from my father…
3. I’m pidgeon-toed and knock kneed…
4. My biggest fears are failure and rejection…
5. It upsets me when I post something and only receive a handful of likes or sometimes none at all…
6. I obsessively compare myself with others and fall short…
7. I am easily distracted, which creates chaos when trying to plan, organize, clean, or pay attention for long periods of time…
8. Sometimes I feel like I fight the same battles over and over…
9. I have four degrees and still no idea whether or not I want to teach for the rest of my life…
10. I rarely offer true second chances. I forgive. I laugh. I let go, but I never let you back in.

Perfection is only a perception. Imperfection is reality.

My sister and I spend large amounts of time discussing direction and God’s ultimate plans for our lives. She does more research than I do, talks to more people, reads up more. The results are in, and branding oneself is the way to go. It allows for the freedom of change. It allows you to be whoever you are at the time which may be completely different from who you were in the past and a total change from who you will be in ten years. It embraces right now.

And I completely understand this new wave. People living their purposes passionately. Their careers and their past times perfectly portray all that they want the world to see. To see them is to know them inside and out – a transparency I fondly admire. They are their brand.

I am not.

I am not a brand.

Branding implies perfection: supermodels, marketing, staffing and plenty of money. Branding has no room for error. Branding does not allow flaws.

I have no issues with branding. I love to watch people blossom into who they were meant to be – the greatness they were meant to achieve and to share that greatness with others so that others may too be amazing.

But for me, right now, I am not a brand.

I am an ordinary girl. Sometimes my insecurities SHOUT so loudly people cannot hear me over them. Sometimes they are so BLINDING people cannot see me behind them.

I know myself. I will become consumed in the process – the promotion and the networking. I will lose myself in my brand. I will become so busy trying to show what others want to see that I will forget exactly who it is I am…

1. God spoils me.
2. My three favorite features are eyes, lips, and legs.
3. I am brilliant at problem-solving.
4. My baby girl screams excitedly and runs to me every time I arrive home.
5. My husband loves me from the bottom of his heart, and I him.
6. I am an optomist.
7. I have a great fam(ily).
8. My energy is overwhelming.
9. I am small and tall.
10. I inspire others.
11. I am a great writer.
12. I am charismatic.
13. I have amazing friends.
14. My faith outweighs my fears.
15. I am a leader.
16. My good days vastly outnumber my bad days.
17. I am beautiful.
18. I forgive easily.
19. I am loving.
20. I am loved.

I intentionally made my second list longer than the first. I challenge each of you reading this to make lists of your own. Embrace your imperfections for what they are. You are who you are. Focus on the positive. Always let your light outshine your darkness. Let your blessings out number your shortcomings.

And live life.

Because although I tell myself that I am not a brand…

I really am.

My brand is me.  I am a brand,…

and so is everyone else.

God specifically and intentionally created each person with a certain uniqueness. We all have some quality that comes naturally to us, while others work tirelessly to achieve much less success with that same quality. This uniqueness, this quality (or perhaps the combination of such qualities) surpasses whatever “flaws” you see in yourself through magnified self-reflecting lenses.

This individuality that sets you apart is your brand.

Spend your days reminding yourself of the what makes you who you are.

Be your brand.

Be you. For you…as is…are ordinarily extraordinary.

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